


Annex 1: Heaven's Cooking

by Legume_Shadow



Series: Echoes: A Peacemaker Kurogane/Rurouni Kenshin Crossover [3]
Category: Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Author Loves Writing the Meiji Revolution, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-07
Updated: 2011-12-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 06:27:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/988799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legume_Shadow/pseuds/Legume_Shadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A light-hearted look into the daily life of those in the Shinsengumi as a new, but temporary cook arrives with a returning character to help around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Annex 1: Heaven's Cooking

**Author's Note:**

> First Publishing: December 2011. All copyrights apply to the appropriate parties and no profit is being made from this fanwork.

**Annex 1: Heaven’s Cooking**

_Year: Early Autumn 1864_

 

“What?!” he said, staring at the older shinobi in utter surprise, almost dropping the small pan of fresh tofu he was carrying. “That’s your _wife_?!”

“Yep!” Kai proudly said as the beautiful and unusually tall woman standing next to him gave a demure smile towards the still-flabbergasted-looking Tetsu. “Tetsu-kun, I’d like you to meet Hiroko. Hiroko, this is Ichimura Tetsunosuke.”

“Oh, so this is the Ichimura-kun you’ve been talking about so much!” the woman gushed, but did not reach out to pat Tetsu on the head. “He’s much handsomer than I imagined!”

Tetsu felt himself flush red at the compliment, but before he could say or do anything, Kai said, laughingly, “You’re embarrassing him, Hiroko. Anyhow, we have to report to Hijikata- _fukuchou_ and it looks like you got some fresh tofu to get to the kitchens.”

“Report to the _fukuchou_?” he asked, looking up at the two.

“Yeah,” the big shinobi answered, giving him a reassuring smile. “With Kondou- _kyokuchou_ , Nagakura- _kumichou_ and Toudou- _kumichou_ in Edo, Aoshi and I are being sent to Osaka for a few days, so Hiroko here will be helping out with the cooking duties.”

“Oh,” he said. “I was sent to Osaka before by the _fukuchou_ to retrieve a package for him. It’s a big place.”

Kai snorted a bit in laughter and said, “Yes, it is, Tetsu-kun. But, in the interest of your tofu not spoiling, you’d best get it to the kitchens.”

“Okay! Will do!” he said, taking his precious package towards his destination as Kai and his wife left.

 

_Later in the morning…_

 

Susumu watched with a mild interest from under the shade of the tree he was leaning against, as those in the training hall surged out to grab a quick bite from the offered trays of onigiri that both Kai and his wife were holding. He could hear their exclamations of surprise at how _wonderful_ the food tasted, even though from his vantage point, it looked quite like a plain old onigiri.

He smiled to himself – though he did not know Kai’s wife well, having never met the woman until now, and only hearing of her legendary cooking skills through the other shinobi back when he was still in Edo, it seemed that the rumors were true. With Kai and Aoshi leaving for Osaka on their errand, the Shinsengumi needed a primary cook, and it was Kai who suggested bringing in his wife as a temporary substitute since the Shinsengumi’s secondary cook, Nagakura Shinpachi, was in Edo. Susumu himself thought that Hijikata would not take to a virtually unknown shinobi and certainly a stranger to cook for the entire Shinsengumi, but he was apparently mistaken.

_Well, if the Shinsengumi are ecstatic over Shimada Hiroko’s cooking, I suppose that the evening meal will be a feast_ , he thought to himself.

 

_Early afternoon…_

 

It was only by sheer boredom of having actually completed his assigned chores and the fact that he could not clean the floors of the training hall, due to it still being occupied by people that Tetsu found himself wandering around the compound. He could have wandered into the heart of the city, but he had already gotten an earful from Tatsu earlier about his attempt to leave and have a bit of fun. It didn’t help that his brother now sat near the entrance, doing his usual accounting while having an uncanny eye on the entrance to ensure that he, Tetsu, did not try to leave.

His attempt at scaling one of the trees nearest to the compound’s walls had ended in failure, for he did not have the grip or balance to walk along the branches to get to the top of the wall and to his freedom.

He glanced up from his musings as he heard a snort that sounded like a pig and saw that the little piglet, Saizou, was peering into an open room from a corner. He knew that Okita was currently on patrol and would not be back until later in the day, but why was the piglet not penned up, and what was the piglet observing?

Curiosity got the better of him as he approached and saw that the piglet had glanced at him before looking back. As his eyes adjusted to the shade and indoor lighting of the early afternoon autumn sun, he saw that the piglet was curiously watching Aya walk back and forth, placing various tied-up bundles of cloth on the tatami mats.

The shinobi had sensed his approach and stopped her movements, turned around and asked him, “Are you free?”

He shrugged and said, “Yeah. Whatcha doing, Aya-nee?”

“Taking an inventory,” she replied. “I need some help. Can you get some blank notebooks from the accounting room? Also, bring a brush and ink.”

“Sure,” he said, his curiosity now beyond piqued as he hurried off on his errand. A few minutes later after turning a few corners of the buildings to get to where he knew that blank notebooks and perhaps a spare brush and ink stone were being kept – the bookeeper’s room – he turned another corner to see that a familiar-looking young woman was in the entrance courtyard, looking around, as if a bit lost.

“Hey,” he said, jogging up to her as she looked at him startled. “You look familiar. Hotaru, right?”

“Uh…yes,” she squeaked out, nodding.

“We haven’t seen you in a while,” he amicably said, grinning. “Did we scare you off?”

She mutely nodded, her face flushing pink as she ducked her head. “Um…I’m looking for the kitchens again…Hiroko-san asked me to meet her there.”

“Oh! Okay! Follow me,” he said, turning back around and leading her away.

* * *

Hiroko watched with a small smile on her face at the enthusiasm that her apprentice, Hotaru was putting into making the dish. When she had first asked that Hotaru come with her and her husband, the young woman had frozen up and merely gave a small squeak before dashing out of the room and into the back of the Aoiya. It had taken a few attempts, but eventually, the young woman told her about her first and last attempt to ‘infiltrate’ the Shinsengumi headquarters and how she blundered it.

Kai had laughed at the story, especially about the part where the young woman had brought back to Masuya some useless scribbled paper, but she had shushed her husband up and instead, reassured her that whatever she had done in the past, it did not impact her present or future. The girl had been through so much, had been used and abandoned by the Fuuma shinobi that she had thought she served with, when they left town, and then discarded when she could not even perform the simplest functions of an inn helper to the fullest. That was when Hiroko had found the young woman, begging for scraps near the Aoiya, and took her in.

Kashiwazaki Nenji, or Okina, as he was known to all Oniwabanshuu by his nickname, had carefully watched the girl for a long time while Hiroko taught her the basics of cooking and maintaining her poise and balance as an inn helper. Hiroko had no intention of actually bringing Hotaru into the fold of the Oniwabanshuu, but they needed help to keep their appearance of running an inn and restaurant solid, thus her want to give Hotaru a second chance at life. The girl was not cut out to be a shinobi and Hiroko knew that others who knew of her previous association with the Fuuma would not trust her, but with time, she could see the girl flourishing as an inn helper and possibly as an inn keeper.

She also reassured her apprentice that she would speak for her to Commander Kondou and the vice commanders, for she knew that serving so many members of the Shinsengumi would require help, and she wanted her apprentice with her. Hotaru was more trustworthy than some random help she could pick off up the street. Thus, she made sure that at least Hotaru got a push out of the door by her fellow shinobi at the Aoiya the time the afternoon rolled around.

“Hotaru-chan, I’ve taken the liberty of asking for some additional bedding to be put in the room you will be sharing with me for the next few days. We’re not to be going back to the inn until my husband returns.”

“Um…okay,” the young woman squeaked out, looking half-scared and half-nervous at her before resuming her work.

Hiroko’s smile turned into a slight frown – that was odd…something here was making Hotaru nervous and she was sure it was not the fact that the girl was nervous about her previous actions here at the Shinsengumi headquarters. Something else was going on…but what?

 

_Late afternoon…_

 

“How do you spell that?” Tetsu asked, mentally pronouncing the word in his head as he stared at the notebook before him.

“Nevermind, just put it down as its nickname, ‘ _demon’s bane_ ’, Ichimura-san,” Aya replied, turning slightly away from him as she resumed her cataloguing. “Make sure it says ‘four stalks’ after it, okay?”

“Dinner!” a faraway voice called out that was followed by a few loud knocks on a wooden tab.

“Go on ahead, Ichimura-san. I can’t eat or touch food while I’m doing this anyways.”

“Okay,” he said, hastily writing in the last few characters for the poison and closed the notebook and placed his brush down onto the ink stone. Getting up, he brushed himself slightly and tromped into the walkway. Turning slightly, he said, “I’ll make sure that Hiroko saves some food for you, okay?”

Aya threw him a startled glance before saying, “Uh…thanks, kid.”

He grinned and hurried to the main dining hall. Even from this distance to the hall, he could smell the wonderful scent of good food in the air and heard his stomach rumble slightly in anticipation of good food. His feet picked up speed, and pretty soon, he was running towards the hall. Not since Ayumu had cooked had he smelled anything this amazing.

Tetsu was not the only one smiling slightly dreamily at just how good the food looked and smelled as members of the Shinsengumi arrayed themselves up and down the hall. He found a seat next to Susumu who was looking around with a slight smirk on his face. “This smells and looks so good that it makes me want to cry,” he heard Harada say a few seats down from where he was.

“It looks like a talented artist painted the entire meal,” he heard Okita say as the captain sat down next to him. “The colors of each piece of the food compliment each other and the entire tray is arranged quite methodically with a purpose of enjoyment in mind.”

“Why thank you for that compliment, Okita-sensei,” a new voice spoke up, causing Tetsu to look up from his admiration of the carefully arranged dishes on the tray to see Hiroko, accompanied by an extremely shy-looking Hotaru who was standing almost behind her, peeking out slightly. “We’re glad that you like it, and we hope that you and the others enjoy tonight’s meal.”

“Ah!” Tetsu spoke up, remembering what he needed to do, “Can you also save a tray for Aya-nee? She said that she can’t eat right now, because of what she’s doing.”

“I will do that, since you asked so nicely, Ichimura-kun,” Hiroko said, smiling before turning slightly to Hotaru and said, “Hotaru-chan, please ensure that our guests are taken care of. I’ll be right back.”

Tetsu heard the squeak of surprise from the young woman before she gave a hasty bow and retreated a bit to the corner to pick up the cooked rice pail as Hiroko left. Shrugging a bit to himself, he returned his attention to the food and dug in.

 

_Later that evening…_

 

Susumu drew one of his knees up to his chest as he sat in his customary perch for the night, his gaze watching the dim lantern lights of Kyoto and the countryside start to be extinguished. A splash of water from the well into a shallow pan caused him to turn his gaze back down to the ground of the compound. In the sliver of moonlight that tonight afforded him, he saw the familiar shadowed figure of Aya taking the shallow pan a little ways away before dropping a bundle into the pan.

He couldn’t hear it, but judging from the movement, he could tell that his fellow shinobi was scrubbing clothes. He was about to return his attention to Kyoto when he saw someone approach the kunoichi from behind. The slow, unsure movements were strange, but Susumu realized that it had to be Hiroko’s assistant, Hotaru.

“Um…pardon me,” he heard the girl say, but from this distance, it took most of his concentration to actually focus on the quietly said words. He didn’t know why, but he was curious as to what the girl was going to say.

He knew from his sister that the girl was a shinobi, albeit a horrible one at that, according to Ayumu who had told him after the girl had left the compound in the middle of the night. Judging from how Hiroko had treated the girl during evening meal, it seemed that the girl had either quit being a shinobi or was reformed…or both. He didn’t trust the girl, but he could see the staunch trust that Hiroko placed in the girl, and thus he had obediently eaten his meal without complaint, though he had not asked for seconds.

“Yes?” Aya answered in her usual clipped tone, pausing in her scrubbing of the clothes to look back and up at the girl.

“Um, I’m sorry to have disturbed you, but Hiroko-san asked me to bring this meal to you,” the girl nervously said.

“Ah,” the kunoichi said. “Please leave it on the walkway and please bring me a small pan of water.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the girl said, nodding and hurrying off to complete her tasks. Susumu watched as the tray was set down and another splash of water in a smaller, but still shallow pan was brought to the kunoichi who took it and poured the water over her hands before wiping them dry on her clothes.

“Um…” the girl began as Susumu heard the two sit on the walkway, “do you mind if I sat here with you?”

“No, I do not,” Aya answered, “though considering that you were helping out in the kitchens today, should you not be asleep? You have an early start tomorrow.”

“I can’t sleep, and I was wondering what you did here in the Shinsengumi,” the girl said before she gave a squeak and apologized, saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

In the silence that stretched between the two, for Susumu had not heard the footsteps of the girl hurrying away, he surmised with some irony that the girl was still jumpy as his sister had described her to be. He shook his head slightly; the girl was most definitely not qualified to be a shinobi, especially with the way she reacted to the tiniest of things.

Suddenly, faint footsteps on the rooftop tiles alerted him to someone approaching and he turned slightly, flickering a throwing knife up into his hands before lowering it as he saw who it was. “Ah, that’s my apprentice,” Hiroko softly said as she smiled at him and took a seat next to him. “Hotaru was always curious…sometimes more so than for her own good.”

“She was a spy for the rebels, Shimada-san,” he stated, re-sheathing the throwing knife.

“She was, and now she isn’t,” she said. Susumu could hear the steel resolve in her voice and did not push the issue.

“I help around,” the two of them heard Aya say. “Sometimes, I run errands for them.”

Susumu quietly snorted at the word ‘errand’. If there were ever a time to call their shinobi work an ‘errand’ then things were even more ridiculous than usual.

“Then pardon me for asking, but would you happen to know if there are any errands that Okita-sama needs done?” the girl asked, her voice a near whisper and so low, that Susumu wasn’t sure he heard correctly.

“Ah, so the truth finally comes out,” he heard Hiroko whisper, though it was mostly to herself. “I was wondering why she was so nervous to come back here and why she barely spoke a word during evening meal.”

It took him a moment to digest it, but then he stared at Hiroko, as she merely smiled back at him. “Really?” he asked, keeping his voice low. “All because of some infatuation that she has?”

“Did you not see the same look, the same expression on Toudou- _kumichou_ ’s face? Kai has told me that Toudou- _kumichou_ is absolutely smitten by Matsumoto-san, even though she does not return his affections,” Hiroko said. “Apparently, some people can love assassins.”

“I’ve seen it,” he replied, filing her derisive statement at Aya’s occupation away for later contemplation, “though it has not stopped him from doing his job.”

“She’s only fourteen, Yamazaki-san. This is first love for her and should be treated as such,” Hiroko quietly reasoned.

“Okita-sama?” the two of them heard Aya echo in puzzlement before she said, “Could it be that you fancy him?”

Instead of squeaking out an affirmative or running away in embarrassment to such a question, the girl nervously said, “He was very kind to me the last time I was here.”

“What happened to cause you to leave?” Aya asked.

“I got scared, with all the men and their drawn swords,” the girl admitted, squeaking a bit.

There was an audible sigh of exasperation from Aya before she muttered, “Well, not that it’s any much different from anywhere else… I’ll tell you what, come see me in the morning, if Shimada-san will allow it. I have an errand to run and you’re going to help me.”

“Really?” the girl cried. “Thank you!”

“Go get some sleep,” Aya ordered. “You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow. I’ll take the tray back to the kitchens myself.”

There was the thump of the girl getting up and the faint pitter-patter of her footsteps leaving. Minutes after she was gone, Susumu heard Aya call up to them, saying, “I know you’re there, Susumu…Shimada-san.”

Elegantly and without sound, both he and Kai’s wife dropped to the ground and after a moment, Hiroko asked, “Do you really have an errand to run or are you trying to hurt my apprentice, Matsumoto-san?”

“I do have an errand to run, Shimada-san,” Aya replied, and if she was offended at the accusation that Hiroko had implied, or at least that was how Susumu heard the question as, she did not show it. “I had been taking inventory of my poisons. Your apprentice may be a former Fuuma shinobi, but I sense no ill intent from her. Now, if you will pardon me, I have to finish washing my clothes before the water is saturated with the pollen of the dried plants that I had been working with.”

After both women left, Susumu climbed back up to the rooftop and sat with his gaze staring out at Kyoto. At least it was another calm night…

 

_The next morning…_

 

The hustle and bustle of merchants up and down the streets in the heart of Kyoto was well underway by the time Aya and her tag-a-long helper arrived at the first shop. With orders to remain outside of the shop, holding a currently empty basket, Hotaru patiently waited while Aya had ducked into the shop to begin looking for a few particular herbs she needed.

Slowly, herbal merchant by herbal merchant, the two went, strolling along the roads at a leisurely pace. It was not until the basket was halfway full that Aya, looking intently through a particular bundle of herbs that had been laid out before her that murmurs of raised concerned voices was heard spreading through the street. She mimicked her own concern, ensuring that the expression matched that of the storekeeper and affected a small turn as the merchant came from the behind the table to peer out of the shop.

She also heard a squeak coming from her tag-a-long helper, but fortunately, the crowd near the entrance to the shop was thick enough of people ducking their way out of the middle of the street, that Hotaru could not scramble in. Not that she was trying to be mean, but this was what she had been waiting for all day while taking her time and going from herbal shop to herbal shop.

“Oh my, what is happening?” she asked, making sure that the tone of her voice had worry dripping from it.

“The Mibu Wolves are doing another patrol sweep,” the herbalist said, though in a lower tone that was meant for his own thoughts, though Aya heard it, he said, “if it weren’t for them, then Kyoto wouldn’t have burned.”

“We are blessed to be protected so,” she said, affecting awe and relief to which she heard the shop owner grunt. She would have to watch the shop owner for a while. While she doubted that the herbalist was a rebel, judging from his words, he was quite disgruntled. She knew that in the history of wars that had raged across Japan, there was almost one faction that was reliably neutral in most conflicts, and that was those who peddled medicine or sold herbs. They stood to make a profit no matter which side bought their wares.

As soon as the crowd started to disperse, Aya picked out the herb she needed, paid for it and ducked back out into the street. She found Hotaru exactly where she had left the girl, though now the girl had an awestruck look on her face. “Hey, kid, you all right?” she asked, nudging the girl a bit.

“He was so handsome-looking,” she gushed, though to Aya, it sounded more like an incoherent babble of high-pitched, breathless, squeaks than words.

_Be still my beating heart_ , she thought, smirking to herself as she took the girl by her hand and guided her away, towards the next shop. That had been her plan, just to let the girl see Okita in daily life – on a patrol – rather than only during evening meal, and for some strange reason, she had found it extremely amusing, though she had not told anyone else that. Well, she had already gone this far in her own little scheme of amusement, and there was no harm in pushing it even further and hopefully give the girl a bit more courage and self-esteem…

“Say kid,” she said as they walked along the dusty road, “I happen to have accidentally found out that Okita-sensei has a bit of a sweet tooth. What say you and I stop by one of the sweets shop before we return. You can get him a small gift.”

“What?!” she exclaimed, looking at her with wide eyes. “I can’t, I just can’t!”

Aya withheld a sigh of annoyance as she looked at the stuttering and nervous girl. The confidence level that the girl had was abysmal… “Look, by the time he returns to headquarters, he’s going to have had a long day. Do you not want to brighten it up?”

Hotaru mutely nodded and Aya continued, saying, “So we’ll go buy the sweets, but you don’t have to leave a note for him, okay?” The nod of affirmation was all she needed, and shaking her head slightly, she and the girl continued along the road, towards the next herbal shop.

It was early afternoon by the time Aya was done with her errand, and when the two of them stopped by the sweets shop, she pretended to look somewhat bewildered at the amount of stuff before them. Of course, she had already known for a long time that her friend had a sweet tooth, but for the benefit of Hotaru, she did not mention it, though she did point out a few specific sweets that she knew Okita liked, feigning to Hotaru that a variety of items would be good as a gift.

“Matsumoto-san,” Hotaru spoke up a while later as the two of them walked to headquarters, “how am I to put this in Okita-sama’s room without people knowing?”

“I’ll watch out for you when you do it,” she said, reassuring her.

“Okay!” she said, her confidence returning a bit.

Outwardly, the compound was deserted with most either in the training hall, on patrol, or in the general quarters by the time she and the girl returned. Their first stop was Okita’s room and true to her word, Aya stood outside, watching for people while the girl carefully placed the small package of sweets on the small desk before re-appearing outside and silently closed the door.

“Done!” the girl said, a bit breathless and flushing pink.

“All right, I’m sure Shimada-san will need some help for tonight’s meal, so you’d better run along,” she said. As the girl scampered off, she finally let out the long, audible sigh she had been holding back since this morning. Normally, she wouldn’t have even given her time to help such a girl as her, but her professional disagreement with Hiroko caused her to want to ensure that Hotaru at least had a bit more confidence with herself.

Just one look at Hotaru had told her that Hiroko had no intention of bringing the child into the fold of the Oniwabanshuu, but Aya believed that it was too late – the child worked at the Aoiya, was well aware of the comings and goings of customers, and had already unconsciously developed some basic habits of a shinobi-in-training, even if the Fuuma clan had ditched her. It was not spite that caused Aya to ‘escalate’ the professional disagreement between her and Hiroko, but rather she wanted to show the woman that her attempts to keep Hotaru out of shinobi affairs were futile. Developing confidence in Hotaru was the first step…

* * *

_A few days later…_

 

“We have appreciated all the work and effort you have done for us these past few days, Shimada-san,” Hijikata said, as Tetsu collected the various cups onto the tray.

“I thank you for allowing my assistant and I to serve all of you, Hijikata- _fukuchou_ ,” he heard the woman say as she and Hotaru bowed. “It has been an honor for both of us. May good fortune smile upon the Shinsengumi, sir.”

Tetsu finished his collection of the cups as the scrape of cloth over the tatami mats was heard, though he looked up in curiosity as she heard Hiroko say, “Hotaru-chan?”

He looked over to see that Hotaru had flushed bright red, even though she was staring at the floor, before the girl stammered out, “Um…I know this may be rude and a bit forward, but…would you mind if I wrote you a letter…Okita-sama?”

Tetsu goggled at her before swinging his gaze straight to his friend, not aware that Hiroko had the same look as he did before she exclaimed, “Hotaru-chan!” He also barely noticed that Hijikata had a smirk on his face while Okita’s expression was that of complete surprise. It had been completely by chance that Okita was present in Hijikata’s room when Hiroko and her assistant had shown up, announcing their leave, and Tetsu had been tasked to get some tea – to which he had put his best effort into it to make sure the tea was good enough to show his appreciation to Hiroko and her assistant on just how wonderful the past few days’ meals had been.

Put on the spot, Tetsu was treated to a rare moment when Okita was at a fleeting loss of words before he said in a kind tone, “I am afraid that your words would be wasted on me, Hotaru-chan. However, I do want to thank you for the thoughtful gift.”

If the young woman could get any more red, she did, as she mutely nodded before giving a hasty bow to all of them and scurried out. “Ah, forgive me, sirs,” Hiroko said. “I did not know of her intention and I am sure she meant no disrespect or had any intention of embarrassing you, Okita-sensei.” Tetsu saw her bow before giving them a farewell and left.

It was a few moments before Tetsu remember what he needed to do and with a glare from Hijikata to beat it and return the cups to the kitchen, he left, still utterly bewildered and surprised at what had just happened.

 

“She left you a gift?” Hijikata asked as soon as it was just the two of them in the room, raising an eyebrow.

“It was small,” Okita replied, smiling, “just a bag of sweets.”

“As far as I know, you’re not writing to anyone, Souji,” he stated.

“That is because I have not found the courage to take up my brush and write to a friend from back home,” Souji replied affably, though there was a slight strain underlying his tone.

“I hope you eventually find that courage, Souji.”

“So do I, Hijikata-san.”

 

_In late 1864, Itou Kashitarou and a few other men joined the Shinsengumi, having been recruited by Commander Kondou when he had traveled to Edo on business. Charismatic and persuasive with words, Itou was soon promoted to the rank of Military Advisor (Sanbou) within the Shinsengumi._

 

~*~*~*~


End file.
